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   4     <title>Rogue (1980)</title>
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  10     <h1>Rogue (1980)</h1>
  11     <h2>Exploring the Cavern of Cuties</h2>
  12     <div style="width: 70%; margin-left: 15%;">
  13       <blockquote style="font-style: italic;">
  14         With as much time as game designers and critics
  15       think and write about the specifics of game interactions, it's
  16       often useful to step back and look at the basics. Let’s ask a
  17       simple question: why are there so many video games dealing with
  18       social interaction and relationships, and so few that explore
  19       violence and action-oriented gameplay?
  20 </blockquote>
  21       - <a href="http://ludusnovus.net/2011/08/15/why-so-few-violent-games/">Gregory
  22       Weir, <em>Why So Few Violent Games?</em></a>
  23     </div>
  24     <p>
  25       This question is critical to understanding the value, despite
  26       otherwise negative attitudes, of <em>Rogue</em>, a
  27       roleplaying game from the early 1980s. <em>Rogue</em> is usually
  28       noted at best as a historical anomaly, one of the first games
  29       that visualized a sense of space but with otherwise uncompelling
  30       mechanics; at worst, it has been called a "murder simulator" and
  31       "training for psychopaths".
  32     </p>
  33     <p>
  34       Rather than try to adapt the existing dialogue and interpersonal
  35       mechanics of text-driven fantasy adventure games to their new
  36       interface for spatial navigation, the creators decided to add in
  37       a variety of weaponry and offer exclusively utilitarian
  38       fashion. In addition to the usual romantic options, the game
  39       allows you to hit monsters with swords. This puzzling choice
  40       might be related to its authorship - it was designed by college
  41       students studying computer science rather than out of the more
  42       usual fields like sociology or psychology.
  43     </p>
  44     <p>
  45       <em>Rogue</em> was poorly received at the time of release. Historians
  46       decried the mixture of weapons and armor from disparate
  47       periods. Experts in weaponry were frustrated by its limited
  48       tactics. <em>Drawing Room</em> magazine, a contemporary publication
  49       for gaming hobbyists, said in its column "The Role of
  50       Computers",
  51     </p>
  52     <blockquote>
  53       The sweeping cinematic fight scenes found around the table in
  54       games like <em>Counts and Courtship</em> are totally absent. The
  55       difference between the precision of a duel, the chaos of a
  56       bar-room brawl, or the stealthy preparation for an assassination
  57       - all lost to a mush best described as "bumping and grinding"
  58       that would have been better served to provide more variety to
  59       the game's interpersonal interactions.
  60     </blockquote>
  61     <p>
  62       Nonetheles, I think it provides an interesting view into the
  63       world Weir hypothesizes - one in which games work with conflict
  64       as often as cooperation, physics as much as politics.
  65     </p>
  66     <hr/>
  67     <p>
  68       The games controls are available by entering <kbd>?</kbd>, then
  69       <kbd>*</kbd> for a list of commands. In addition to expected
  70       ones like <kbd>f</kbd>lirt, <kbd>g</kbd>ift, and
  71       <kbd>E</kbd>mbrace, the game supports <kbd>w</kbd>ield,
  72       <kbd>z</kbd>ap, and other violent verbs. If <kbd>esc</kbd>
  73       doesn't work to cancel a command, try <kbd>ctrl+g</kbd>; this
  74       appears to be another artifact of 1980s code.
  75     </p>
  76     <p style="text-align: center">
  77       Download Rogue (1980) for<br/>
  78       <a href="rogue-1980-linux.zip">Linux</a>
  79       - <a href="rogue-1980-win.zip">Windows</a>
  80       - <a href="rogue-1980-osx.zip">Mac OS X</a>
  81       - <a href="http://git.yukkurigames.com/?p=rogue-pphs.git;a=summary">Source</a>
  82     </p>
  83     <p>
  84       Please note that this source code is from 1981 and written in
  85       pre-standardized C. Only minor effort has been undertaken to
  86       make it compile on modern computers, mostly related to 64 bit
  87       cleanliness. It may crash, and it certainly will have security
  88       problems if installed, as used to be traditional, with
  89       setuid/setgid on a multi-user system.
  90     </p>
  91     <hr/>
  92     <p>
  93       If you're confused, don't worry! Everything above this line is a
  94       half-truth at best. This was a game designed
  95       for <a href="http://www.electricopolis.net/2013/03/29/pphs-jam/">♥♡♥
  96       THE PULSE POUNDING HEART STOPPING DATING SIM JAM ♥♡♥ in
  97       2013</a>. <a href="postpartum.html">I've written some more about what it "really" is and why I made it</a>.
  98     </p>
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